Tuesday - Blondes Have More Stress
Apr. 18th, 2006 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermoreToday on my drive into work, I was thinking about how when you lock your keys in the car when you are by yourself, you have to wait an hour for a locksmith and must have $75 cash on hand to give him. However, when you lock your 18-month-old-son in the car, the fire department will come and unlock it in just 5 minutes and for free. I learned this this morning, and am happy to share the information here. Next time that you think you might lock yourself out of your car, make certain that you bring a child with you and leave him or her in the vehicle. Borrow a child, if you have to. You'll save $75 and 55 minutes.
It's been a long time since I've locked myself out of a car, though over the years I have locked myself out of plenty of them. Having a Triple A membership is nice, but it still takes about 45 minutes for their wrecker to show up (in my experience). With the automatic locks, you must go out of your way to manage to lock your keys in the car, because generally speaking you must have your keys in your hand when you lock the car, and you usually do this while walking away from it. It's not normally something that I worry about doing any more.
However, when I drop my son off at daycare, I usually leave my purse in the front seat of the car. It's parked in front of a church with a lot of other parents and staff members in sight, so anyone breaking my window to get at my purse would attract attention. But if the car is unlocked, it would be easy to just open the door and grab my bag. To make sure that the car gets locked, I get out, walk around to my son's car seat, open his door, lock the car so I won't forget, toss my keys next to the car seat, unload my child and all of his accessories, grab my keys and we are off.
This morning, after I tossed my keys on the edge of the seat, I began to unstrap my son from his seat when I noticed that I needed to grab a tissue from the front of the car and wipe his face. I didn't want to finish unstrapping him, because it's easier to clean his face when he is immobilized. He is offended by tissues and works very hard to avoid them. I had already unbuckled the strap between his legs but left the ones across his chest as I walked around the open door to the front seat. A car was pulling into the space next to me, so I stayed close to my car and I bumped the opened door to the backseat with my hip as I passed it. Even as my hand was trying to open the front door and my brain my remembering that I had locked all of the car doors, the back door was swinging shut. I couldn't move fast enough to grab the handle before it latched.
"Oh my God," I said, standing there with my hand on the door handle, looking at my son who was looking patiently back at me.
"We've all done it," a woman standing next to me said, "Don't worry, they have someone on call for this."
I hadn't even noticed her standing there. She was about 50 and wearing scrubs because she worked in a doctor's office. She was there dropping off her granddaughter. She notified one of the employees of the daycare, who ran to the office. The girl in the office called her father, who happened to own a Slim Jim (the tool, not the beef jerky sticks).
"Just be glad it's cool out," the woman in scrubs said, "It could be 2 PM and 95 degrees, with you standing in the parking lot at the grocery store."
I agreed this was better. I would have to break the window of my car in that case. Cars get dangerously hot in about 10 minutes in that kind of heat. My son waved at me. I waved back. He looked at me expectantly. I shrugged my shoulders and apologized to him.
The man with the Slim Jim showed up and valiantly tried to use it on every door in my car. As he was working, different people came and went from the parking space next to mine.
"Done that," one man said.
"Ooooh, been there. Good luck," a mother commented.
I started to feel a little less stupid. Not much, but a little. At least I was no more stupid than everyone else.
Slim Jim Guy gave it his best for about 15 minutes, before he gave up. Next, the office called the fire department.
At about this point, my son decided that he was tired of this romance and decided to try to escape on his own. He tried to slip out of the car seat and made it part way since the strap between his legs was unlatched, but couldn't get past the strap that still bound his chest. I caught my breath as his chin got caught on the strap. His face turned red as he started to cry.
"I've got a hammer in my car," Slim Jim Guy said, "If we need to break the window."
My son scooted back up a bit and I could see that he wasn't choking. His face was red with anger, not from a lack of oxygen. Not only was he bored, his breakfast was late; both of these things were wearing on his nerves. We decided to wait for the fire department.
After about 5 minutes, an SUV with the emblem of the Tomball Fire Department on the door rolled up. Tomball is a small town, and its fire department does not produced a calendar to raise money the way the one in Houston does. When the 350 pound fireman stepped out of the SUV, I was grateful for this. But he was nice and very efficient. He used a wedge to pry open the driver's side door and stuck something that looked like a blood pressure cuff in the gap. He filled the blood pressure cuff device with air and whatever it was made of was strong enough to hold the door open by about half an inch. Then he produced a metal rod, about six feet long, with a little crook at the end, like a small bent fingertip. He slipped this through the gap in the door and my job was to watch through the window and let him know when he had hooked the finger under the lock inside the door. Once he had it, he gave the rod a quick pull and the door was opened.
I got my son out of the car. He gave me a reproachful look as I gathered up his diaper bag. His expression said that he was not amused and that this better not happen again. I apologized to him once more.
The teachers clapped when we walked into his room. "Yay!" they said, "You got him out!"
From here on out, I'll lock the car as I walk away from it after all of the doors are shut. I'm thinking about dying my hair a darker color, as well. Maybe it will help keep this sort of thing from happening to me in the future.
It's been a long time since I've locked myself out of a car, though over the years I have locked myself out of plenty of them. Having a Triple A membership is nice, but it still takes about 45 minutes for their wrecker to show up (in my experience). With the automatic locks, you must go out of your way to manage to lock your keys in the car, because generally speaking you must have your keys in your hand when you lock the car, and you usually do this while walking away from it. It's not normally something that I worry about doing any more.
However, when I drop my son off at daycare, I usually leave my purse in the front seat of the car. It's parked in front of a church with a lot of other parents and staff members in sight, so anyone breaking my window to get at my purse would attract attention. But if the car is unlocked, it would be easy to just open the door and grab my bag. To make sure that the car gets locked, I get out, walk around to my son's car seat, open his door, lock the car so I won't forget, toss my keys next to the car seat, unload my child and all of his accessories, grab my keys and we are off.
This morning, after I tossed my keys on the edge of the seat, I began to unstrap my son from his seat when I noticed that I needed to grab a tissue from the front of the car and wipe his face. I didn't want to finish unstrapping him, because it's easier to clean his face when he is immobilized. He is offended by tissues and works very hard to avoid them. I had already unbuckled the strap between his legs but left the ones across his chest as I walked around the open door to the front seat. A car was pulling into the space next to me, so I stayed close to my car and I bumped the opened door to the backseat with my hip as I passed it. Even as my hand was trying to open the front door and my brain my remembering that I had locked all of the car doors, the back door was swinging shut. I couldn't move fast enough to grab the handle before it latched.
"Oh my God," I said, standing there with my hand on the door handle, looking at my son who was looking patiently back at me.
"We've all done it," a woman standing next to me said, "Don't worry, they have someone on call for this."
I hadn't even noticed her standing there. She was about 50 and wearing scrubs because she worked in a doctor's office. She was there dropping off her granddaughter. She notified one of the employees of the daycare, who ran to the office. The girl in the office called her father, who happened to own a Slim Jim (the tool, not the beef jerky sticks).
"Just be glad it's cool out," the woman in scrubs said, "It could be 2 PM and 95 degrees, with you standing in the parking lot at the grocery store."
I agreed this was better. I would have to break the window of my car in that case. Cars get dangerously hot in about 10 minutes in that kind of heat. My son waved at me. I waved back. He looked at me expectantly. I shrugged my shoulders and apologized to him.
The man with the Slim Jim showed up and valiantly tried to use it on every door in my car. As he was working, different people came and went from the parking space next to mine.
"Done that," one man said.
"Ooooh, been there. Good luck," a mother commented.
I started to feel a little less stupid. Not much, but a little. At least I was no more stupid than everyone else.
Slim Jim Guy gave it his best for about 15 minutes, before he gave up. Next, the office called the fire department.
At about this point, my son decided that he was tired of this romance and decided to try to escape on his own. He tried to slip out of the car seat and made it part way since the strap between his legs was unlatched, but couldn't get past the strap that still bound his chest. I caught my breath as his chin got caught on the strap. His face turned red as he started to cry.
"I've got a hammer in my car," Slim Jim Guy said, "If we need to break the window."
My son scooted back up a bit and I could see that he wasn't choking. His face was red with anger, not from a lack of oxygen. Not only was he bored, his breakfast was late; both of these things were wearing on his nerves. We decided to wait for the fire department.
After about 5 minutes, an SUV with the emblem of the Tomball Fire Department on the door rolled up. Tomball is a small town, and its fire department does not produced a calendar to raise money the way the one in Houston does. When the 350 pound fireman stepped out of the SUV, I was grateful for this. But he was nice and very efficient. He used a wedge to pry open the driver's side door and stuck something that looked like a blood pressure cuff in the gap. He filled the blood pressure cuff device with air and whatever it was made of was strong enough to hold the door open by about half an inch. Then he produced a metal rod, about six feet long, with a little crook at the end, like a small bent fingertip. He slipped this through the gap in the door and my job was to watch through the window and let him know when he had hooked the finger under the lock inside the door. Once he had it, he gave the rod a quick pull and the door was opened.
I got my son out of the car. He gave me a reproachful look as I gathered up his diaper bag. His expression said that he was not amused and that this better not happen again. I apologized to him once more.
The teachers clapped when we walked into his room. "Yay!" they said, "You got him out!"
From here on out, I'll lock the car as I walk away from it after all of the doors are shut. I'm thinking about dying my hair a darker color, as well. Maybe it will help keep this sort of thing from happening to me in the future.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:15 pm (UTC)In a few more months, my son will be able to unlock the car for me if this happens again, as one parent not-so-helpfully pointed out this morning.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:19 pm (UTC)I have a feeling that AAA would've told you to call the fire department if it were that much of an emergency, but if your luck is like mine, that still would've counted as my one "freebie" for the year. I'd still keep the Pop-A-Lock number handy. It's another free service should your son not be able to get out of his carseat.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:25 pm (UTC)glad all worked out okay for you
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 05:59 pm (UTC)